22-05-2025
Pandemic exam grading linked to rise in university dropouts
Schools awarding qualifications when exams were scrapped during the pandemic has led to the highest university dropout rate in at least a decade.
About one in eight students abandoned university before year two in 2022-23, the highest dropout rate since at least 2013-14.
It has been attributed to the cancellation of exams during Covid-19 when qualifications were determined by teacher judgment.
Schools were asked to predict exam results for nationals, highers and advanced highers based on a pupil's past performance, but the exams authority then amended 133,000 entries according to each school's past performance, with only 7 per cent adjusted upwards. The vast majority were amended downwards by a full grade.
The ensuing row fatally undermined confidence in the Scottish Qualifications Authority and contributed
